Consulting firm Sia Partners has opened its second office in the US, and third in North America. To lead the new office, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the consultancy has put forward Shane Williams, who has been with Sia Partners for two years now, and relocates from New York to embark on his new challenge.

Founded in 1999 in Paris, France, Sia Partners is a management consultancy that supports clients with among other strategy, business transformation and technology implementations. In recent years the firm has grown strongly, with its current footprint spanning more than 600 consultants and 16 offices around the world.

In 2013 Sia Partners first entered the North American market through its acquisition of Investance, a French-origin consultancy counterpart, a move which provided the firm access to a team of roughly 30 consultants in the US. From the base in New York, which focuses predominantly on clients in the financial services industry, Sia Partners over the past two years booked stellar growth, and now houses more than 60 professionals, racking in revenues of approximately $14 million. Globally Sia Partners has about 300 advisors dedicated to its Financial Services practice, with the remaining 50% of the consultants working across a range of sectors, including government, energy, retail, healthcare, telecom, manufacturing and pharmaceutics.

In line with the expansion plans drafted for North America, Sia Partners last year August added an office in the Canadian city of Montreal, and at the time, Dan Connor, Managing Director and Head of North American Operations, already hinted at the possibility of a further hub opening late 2015. 13 months down the line Connor’s forecast turns out spot on, with Charlotte, North Carolina, the latest US region set to welcome the management consultants. The new office will handle operations in the southeastern states, from North Carolina to Florida. “Charlotte was the natural choice for the next Sia Partners’ office,” explains Connor.

The new location will similar to the New York and Montreal hubs remain faithful to the financial services industry, with Corporate & Investment Banking, Consumer Banking, Insurance and Asset Management regarded as the key focus sectors. According to recent data from Source for Consulting, financial services sector accounts for a quarter of the entire consulting industry, with the US – a market estimated to be worth more than $50 billion – the absolute powerhouse in terms of sheer size and Western growth. From a functional perspective Connor describes the on-the-ground US team specialists in Target Operating Model Design & Optimisation, and regulatory implementations (e.g. Volcker Rule, FATCA, AML, CCAR, ICH).

Tasked to lead the expansion drive across the southeast is Shane Williams, a professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate / investment banking and consulting. He previously served several banks, including Deutsche Bank, HSH Nordbank, Freddie Mac, Societe Generale and Citi, and joined Sia Partners in 2013. Throughout his career Williams gained knowledge of risk management and operations in diverse areas such as commercial lending and regulatory reporting. “I am very enthusiastic about steering our operations in the region,” comments Williams, who will relocate from New York to the new base.

Asked for the ambition for the coming years, Williams says he aims at “building up a team of more than 30 consultants in three years”, a target which aligns with Sia Partners’ overall growth plans in North America, earlier this year described as “highly ambitious” by CEO Matthieu Courtecuisse. “We now have the critical mass to expand across the country and to better serve our US financial services clientele,” concludes Connor.

In May year Sia Partners also opened an office in Tokyo, its third in Asia, an operation which is led by Vincent Kasbi, the former Managing Director of Investance in Hong Kong & Singapore and the UK.